6.  The applicants were born in 1965 and 1946 respectively. They live in Chechen-Aul in the Grozny district, Chechnya. The first applicant is the wife of Salambek (also known as Aslambek) Movsayev, who was born in 1966; the second applicant is his brother.
7.  At some point in the 1990s the first applicant, her husband Salambek Movsayev and their son moved from Chechen-Aul in Chechnya to Ingushetia. At the material time they lived in Achaluki, Ingushetia, and occasionally visited their relatives in Chechnya. The second applicant lived in Chechen-Aul, which had been under the full control of the Russian federal forces since 2000; checkpoints manned by military servicemen were on the roads leading to and from the settlement.
8.  The applicants’ and Salambek Movsayev’s relative, Mr T.M., was suspected of active membership in illegal armed groups and had been on the authorities’ wanted list since 2000. Officers of local law-enforcement agencies, including a district police officer, Mr S., had visited the second applicant’s house on a number of occasions looking for Mr T.M.
(b)  Abduction of Salambek Movsayev
9.  On 24 February 2006 the first applicant, Salambek Movsayev and their twelve-year-old son visited the second applicant in Chechen-Aul. After the visit, at about 2 p.m. on the same day, they got into their VAZ-2104 car and drove to a repair shop in Chechen-Aul. Salambek Movsayev stopped at the shop to inquire whether a tape recorder belonging to him had been fixed. After spending just a few minutes there, he got back in the car and the family continued driving in the direction of Grozny.
10.  The family was driving down Ordzhonikidze Street, about three houses away from the repair shop, when their car was stopped by two men in uniform, who had gotten out of a white VAZ-2107 car and a light‑coloured VAZ-21010 car parked on the right side of the road.
11.  One of the men, who was holding a gun, approached the driver’s window. The other one was standing on the other side of the car. The man with the gun asked Salambek Movsayev’s name; the latter told him that his name was Aslambek. Then the man grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of the car. Without providing any explanations or asking for documents he dragged Salambek over to the two cars parked nearby and pushed him into one of them. Meanwhile, another seven or eight armed men got out of the two cars. Two or three of them were in spotted camouflage uniforms; the rest were in black ones. None of them were wearing masks; some of them were of Slavic appearance.
12.  When the first applicant saw her husband being forced into one of the cars, she and her son got out of their vehicle and ran after him. One of the armed men pointed his gun at her and told her in Chechen to get out of the way. After that the abductors drove away with Salambek Movsayev in the direction of Grozny. According to the applicants, a number of local residents witnessed the abduction of Salambek Movsayev. However, they did not provide the Court with any witness statements concerning the events.
(c)  Events following the abduction
13.  Immediately after her husband’s abduction, the first applicant and her son drove back to the second applicant’s house. They informed him about the abduction. The applicants called the district police officer Mr S., who had visited the second applicant’s house looking for Mr T.M., and asked him about the whereabouts of Salambek Movsayev. The officer promised to help them find Salambek, but the applicants never heard from him again.
14.  On the following morning, 25 February 2006 (in the submitted documents the date was also referred to as 24 February 2006), the applicants complained about the abduction of Salambek Movsayev to the Grozny district prosecutor’s office and the Grozny district department of the interior (“the Grozny ROVD”).
15.  From 25 February to 13 March 2006 the applicants complained about the abduction to various law-enforcement agencies in Chechnya and requested to be provided with information about the whereabouts of their relative; however, the State authorities denied their involvement in the abduction of Salambek Movsayev and promised to assist the applicants in their search.
(d)  Discovery of Salambek Movsayev’s body
16.  On 13 March 2006 the body of Salambek Movsayev was found in the Oktyabrskiy district of Grozny. The body was found by local boys in the vicinity of the fire station, in busy streets, not far from the Oktyabrskiy district department of the interior (“the Oktyabrskiy ROVD”) and the checkpoint of the Russian military forces.
17.  Police officers arrived at the site and found Salambek Movsayev’s passport on the body. They informed a female relative of the applicants who lived in the Oktyabrskiy district of Grozny about the discovery and she informed the applicants about it.
18.  Salambek Movsayev’s documents for the car, his watch, a ring and money were missing. The clothing on the corpse was torn, but it was dry and relatively clean. Taking into account that eighteen days had passed since the abduction and that it had rained in the meantime, the state of Salambek Movsayev’s clothing suggested to the applicants that he had been kept alive in a room and had been murdered shortly prior to the discovery of his body.
19.  Some time later, after the police had handed over the body to the applicants, the second applicant inspected it. According to him, it was covered with bruises, the teeth were knocked out, and there were two gunshot wounds to the head, one of them in the left temporal area. The second applicant concluded that prior to his death Salambek Movsayev must have been tortured. The applicants neither took photographs of the body nor submitted it for a forensic examination.
20.  On 29 March 2006 the Chechen-Aul village hospital issued certificate no. 110 confirming the death of Salambek Movsayev. The document stated that the cause of his death had been a gunshot wound to the head.
21.  On 30 March 2006 the Grozny district department of registration of civil acts (‘ЗАГС’) issued official death certificate no. 570259 confirming the death of Salambek Movsayev on 13 March 2006.
22.  In support of their submissions the applicants submitted the following documents: a statement by the first applicant dated 16 February 2007; two statements by the second applicant dated 7 April 2006 and 16 February 2007; a copy of medical certificate no. 110 dated 29 March 2006 and a copy of Salambek Movsayev’s death certificate.
23.  The Government did not dispute the circumstances of Salambek Movsayev’s abduction and the subsequent discovery of his corpse. However, in their observations on the admissibility and merits of the application of 20 January 2010 they pointed out that in her statements to the investigative authorities the first applicant had mentioned that the abductors had been a group of seven or eight men, whereas in her submission to the Court she had stated that the group had comprised nine or ten persons. The Government also stressed that only in her submission to the Court had the first applicant stated that some of the abductors had been of Slavic appearance, whereas she had never mentioned this to the domestic investigating authorities.
24.  On 24 or 25 February 2006 the applicants complained about the abduction of Salambek Movsayev to the Grozny district prosecutor’s office and the Grozny ROVD. The applicants did not retain a copy of their written complaints to the authorities.
25.  On 13 March 2006 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office instituted an investigation into the abduction of Salambek Movsayev under Article 126 § 2 of the Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was given the number 54020.
26.  On the same date, that is, 13 March 2006, in connection with the discovery of the body of Salambek Movsayev, the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office instituted an investigation into his murder. The criminal case file was given the number 52059.
27.  At some point after 13 March 2006 the investigators visited the applicants in Chechen-Aul. They questioned the first applicant and her son. The second applicant took them to the crime scene; they examined the site and questioned an employee of the repair shop.
28.  On 27 March 2006 the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office granted the first applicant victim status in criminal case no. 52029.
29.  On 13 June 2006 the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that the investigation into the murder of her husband had been suspended for failure to establish the identities of the perpetrators.
30.  On 16 February 2007 the first applicant complained about the ineffectiveness of the investigation into her husband’s abduction and murder to the Grozny district prosecutor’s office. She stated that for almost a year the investigation had failed to produce any results and no explanations for its ineffectiveness had been provided. She requested that the investigation be resumed and that she be provided with access to the criminal case file. No reply was given to this complaint.
31.  According to the applicants, the authorities failed to provide them with information on the progress of the investigation into Salambek Movsayev’s abduction and murder.
32.  On 2 March 2006 the first applicant complained about Salambek Movsayev’s abduction to the Grozny ROVD.
33.  On 2 March 2006 the investigators from the Grozny district prosecutor’s office conducted a crime scene examination at the site of Salambek Movsayev’s abduction. Nothing was collected from the scene.
34.  On 4 March 2006 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office received the case file with information concerning Salambek Movsayev’s abduction from the Grozny ROVD.
35.  On 7 March 2006 the investigators of the Grozny district prosecutor’s office requested the supervising prosecutor to grant them ten days, that is, until 14 March 2006, to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the information provided by the Grozny ROVD in order to decide whether to initiate a criminal investigation into the abduction.
36.  From the transcript of the witness interview furnished by the Government it follows that between 9.16 a.m. and 9.50 a.m. on 13 March 2006 the investigators from the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office questioned the second applicant, who stated that he had learnt about the circumstances of Salambek’s abduction from the first applicant. The witness further stated that prior to the discovery of Salambek Movsayev’s corpse on 13 March 2006 he and his relatives had searched for Salambek in various law-enforcement agencies, including the town and district departments of the interior (the OVD), but to no avail. The applicant also stated that Salambek’s murder “could have somehow been related” to the illegal armed activities of their relative Mr T.M.
37.  From the documents submitted by the Government it follows that at 12.10 p.m. on 13 March 2006 Salambek Movsayev’s body was found in the Oktyabrskiy district of Grozny.
38.  Between 12.50 p.m. and 2.50 p.m. on 13 March 2006 the investigators from the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office conducted a crime scene examination at the site of the discovery of Salambek Movsayev’s body. Salambek Movsayev’s passport was collected from the scene.
39.  At 2.50 p.m. on 13 March 2006 the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 52029 under Article 105 § 1 of the Criminal Code (murder) in connection with the discovery of Salambek Movsayev’s body with penetrating gunshot wounds to the torso and the head.
40.  On the same date, 13 March 2006, the investigators from the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office ordered a forensic expert examination of Salambek Movsayev’s body.
41.  At 3 p.m. on 13 March 2006 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 54020 in connection with the abduction on 24 February 2006 of Salambek Movsayev under Article 126 § 2 of the Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping).
42.  On the same date, 13 March 2006, the Grozny district prosecutor’s office forwarded requests for assistance in establishing the whereabouts of Salambek Movsayev to the Grozny ROVD, the Grozny Search Bureau-2 of the Ministry of the Interior (“ОРБ-2”) and the Grozny district department of the Federal Security Service (the Grozny FSB).
43.  On 15 March 2006 the investigators from the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office questioned the brother of Salambek Movsayev, Mr A.M., who provided them with a description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Salambek Movsayev based on what the first applicant had told him.
44.  On 17 March 2006 the investigations in criminal cases no. 54020 and no. 52029 were joined under the number 52029. It was decided that the joined investigation should be carried out by the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office.
45.  On 27 March 2006 the first applicant was granted victim status in the criminal case and questioned. The applicant described the circumstances of the abduction. In particular, she stated that her husband Salambek Movsayev had been taken away by a group of seven or eight armed men in camouflage uniforms who had driven a white VAZ-2107 car and a VAZ‑21012 car. The abductors who had dragged Salambek out of his car had been in black military uniforms and armed with “Stechkin” pistols, whereas the other abductors had been wearing green camouflage uniforms and armed with machineguns. The applicant also stated that her husband had not participated in illegal armed groups, whereas his nephew Mr T.M. had been sought by the authorities for the active participation in illegal armed activities and that the local military had often visited her house looking for him.
46.  On 27 March, 23 and 25 April and 7 June 2006 the investigators requested that the Grozny ROVD, the Oktyabrskiy ROVD, Grozny Search Bureau-2 and the Chechnya FSB take a number of steps to identify eyewitnesses to Salambek Movsayev’s abduction and murder, and check whether Salambek Movsayev had applied for medical help and whether he had participated in illegal armed groups.
47.  On 11 April 2006 the investigators questioned Mr S.M., who stated that at about 11 a.m. on 13 March 2006 he had seen a crowd gathered around a corpse with gunshot wounds. In the crowd he had spoken to a shepherd who had tended the cattle next to Novopromyslovskaya Street in the Oktyabrskiy district of Grozny, and the latter had told him that he had found the corpse.
48.  On 13 April 2006 the investigators decided to terminate the criminal investigation of the abduction and continue the investigation of Salambek Movsayev’s murder.
49.  On 23 April 2006 the investigator in charge of the criminal case requested information from the Chechnya Ministry of the Interior (“the Chechnya MVD”). The text of the letter included the following:
“... the preliminary investigation of the criminal case established that at about 2.30 p.m. on 24 February 2006 Salambek Movsayev had been detained at the corner of the Pervomayskaya and Ordzhonikidze Streets in Chechen-Aul by representatives of one of the Chechen power structures and taken to an unknown destination.
In connection with this, I request you to inform me whether your employees detained Salambek Movsayev on the above date ...”
50.  On 2 May 2006 the investigators questioned Mr D.S., who stated that at about 10 a.m. on 13 March 2006 he had found a male corpse next to Novopromyslovskaya Street in the Oktyabrskiy district of Grozny. The hands and legs had been bound with adhesive tape.
51.  On 4 May 2006 the Oktyabrskiy ROVD informed the investigators that Salambek Movsayev
“... [had] assisted members of illegal armed groups with transportation of firearms and ammunition, supplied them with food and transported in his personal vehicle his nephew Mr T.M. and the members of the latter’s illegal armed group ...”
52.  On an unspecified date in May 2006 the investigators received the report of the forensic expert evaluation of Salambek Movsayev’s body. According to the report, numerous gunshot wounds were found on it, including two gunshot wounds to the head, which must have been the cause of death.
53.  On 10 May 2006 the investigators requested that the Chechnya bureau of forensic expert examinations carry out an examination of three bullets extracted from Salambek Movsayev’s body. On 25 May 2006 the bureau carried out the tests and informed the investigators that the three bullets could have been fired either from a “Makarov” or a “Stechkin” pistol.
54.  On 11 May 2006 the Chechnya MVD informed the investigators that on 24 February 2006 they had not conducted any special operations in respect of Salambek Movsayev.
55.  On 12 June 2006 the investigators questioned Mr B.Sh., who stated that in February 2006 Salambek Movsayev had asked him to repair a radio and that a few days later he had arrived to pick it up. On the following day Mr B.Sh. had learnt from the first applicant about Salambek’s abduction by unidentified armed men in camouflage uniforms.
56.  On 20 December 2006 the Chechnya bureau of forensic expert examinations forwarded the three bullets for further tests and tracing of the firearm to the federal bullet and cartridge centre (“пулегильзотека”). The letter also stated that the pistol from which the three bullets had been fired was not registered as having been used for the commission of other crimes.
57.  On 13 June 2006 the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor requested the head of the Oktyabrskiy ROVD to take disciplinary measures in respect of the police officers for their failure to execute the orders given by the investigators of Salambek Movsayev’s murder.
58.  On 13 June 2006 the investigators suspended the investigation in the criminal case for failure to identify the perpetrators and informed the applicants about this decision.
59.  On 14 October 2009 the supervising prosecutor ordered the investigators of the criminal case to resume the proceedings and take a number of steps. The document stated, inter alia, the following:
“... it is necessary to take the following steps ... 2.  Question the son of Salambek Movsayev, who had eyewitnessed the abduction, as well as the brother of the abducted man, his nephew and niece ... about the circumstances of the criminal case. 3.  Identify and question the district police officer Mr S. who, according to the applicants, had visited them on several occasions with representatives of law‑enforcement agencies seeking to arrest Mr T.M. 5.  Question [the first applicant] K. Movsayeva again in order to clarify the information concerning the number of the abductors and the vehicles used by them ...”
60.  At the request of the Court the Government disclosed “the full contents” of criminal case file no. 52029 running up to 157 pages of copies of documents.